07/03/2008 @ 06:00 AM Contributed by: bigjake Views:: 123
By Joe Wilkinson
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Ice, snow...and catastrophic flooding have marked 2008 as we close the first half of the year. You can’t blame a lot of us for looking a little deeper into the calendar; say to the hunting seasons? Lousy pheasant-raising weather and CRP acres pressed back into crop production mean upland game prospects will be lean. That makes deer hunting the probably bright spot, heading into this fall.
Deer tags have been liberally available in the past few years and this season will offer more of the same. Season dates, special zones and county by county quotas were set recently by the Iowa Natural Resource Commission. Allocation of any sex tags—which allow a hunter to take bucks—essentially will be the same. The goal, of course, is to bring deer populations to acceptable levels statewide. That means harvesting more does—antlerless deer.
July 3, 2008
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issues a weekly fishing report on Thursdays in an effort to provide the latest information heading into the weekend. The weekly fishing report is compiled from information gathered from local bait shops, angler creel surveys, and county and state parks staff. For current information, contact the district fisheries office. Phone numbers are listed at the end of each district report.
07/02/2008 @ 06:00 AM Contributed by: bigjake Views:: 110
By Joe Wilkinson
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
On a sunny morning at Big Spring, everything appears normal. The big wooden sign welcomes visitors to the Department of Natural Resources trout rearing station, along the Turkey River near Elkader. A closer look, though, and the signature of the 2008 flood appears. A cornstalk is lodged overhead in the welcome sign; carried there by the wall of water spilling over levee, 40 yards away.
“After the 1991 flood, we added 18 inches to the levee. Still, the river surged four feet above that. Once the water came over, we only had four or five minutes to get out,” recalls hatchery manager Gary Siegwarth, pointing out the latest ‘record flood level’ mark in the hatchery’s gutted office and shop...34 inches above the previous one. Workers hauled some supplies and equipment to higher ground. A lot didn’t make it.
Ames – As wild fires continue to rage in parts of the west, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources fire program has started to dispatch wildland firefighters to northern California and other places in need.
The fire program recently sent three wildland firefighters from Iowa to the Iron Complex (27 fires) in northern California. The three were part of a 20 person Type 2 Iowa crew, dispatched out of the Missouri Iowa Coordination Center out of Rolla, Mo. The crew is made up of interagency crewmembers from the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missouri Department of Conservation and Iowa DNR representatives.
DES MOINES – Iowa State Parks are swelling to capacity as campers and picnickers gather to celebrate Independence Day with friends and family. With July 4 falling on a Friday, campgrounds are expected to be busy all week leading up to the holiday.
The campsite reservation system has been a popular choice for many campers. A few electrical sites are still available for reservation at Pilot Knob and Lake Wapello state parks. Campers are reminded that Lake Wapello remains drained this summer and fall for emergency repairs to the dam.
06/29/2008 @ 06:00 AM Contributed by: bigjake Views:: 38
The trails at Mines of Spain are some of the best in Iowa’s state parks and by being designated as part of the National Trails System by the U.S. Department of Interior on June 4; the trails are now in elite company.
Iowa had 16 trails or portions of trails designated as National Trails System, and with the designation of Mines of Spain, along with the Great Western Trail and Summerset Trail, the number is pushed to 19.
06/27/2008 @ 06:00 AM Contributed by: bigjake Views:: 74
DES MOINES – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) helps landowners enhance, protect, and develop wildlife habitat on their property and has been allocated a large amount of funds to spend in Iowa.
“WHIP is a great program to help landowners improve habitat on their properties,” said Matt Dollison, private lands wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “It provides about 60 percent cost share for approved practices. Landowners can actually get paid to improve the habitat themselves or can hire a contractor to do the work.”
June 26, 2008
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issues a weekly fishing report on Thursdays in an effort to provide the latest information heading into the weekend. The weekly fishing report is compiled from information gathered from local bait shops, angler creel surveys, and county and state parks staff. For current information, contact the district fisheries office. Phone numbers are listed at the end of each district report.
Flooding Impacts on Fish
The unprecedented volume of water in many areas during the flood will minimize the impact from any chemicals, waste or other toxins mixed in with the water. Nothing in the water is going to hurt the quality or the edibility of the fish. These fish are safe to eat.
In general, more water means more fish. Growth of fish is great in expanded habitats when lake and stream water levels are high. It is expected the flood conditions in many streams will have an adverse impact on smallmouth bass reproduction this year. The floods will rearrange the habitat in streams with some deep holes filling in while others are created.
A larger issue is that of sediment washing into streams, lakes and ponds, covering and reducing habitat and causing water quality problems.
06/26/2008 @ 06:00 AM Contributed by: bigjake Views:: 40
Iowa is currently accepting land in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s CRP State Acres for wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program, but only 27,700 acres were designated for Iowa. The land must be in a SAFE project area and meet basic CRP eligibility requirements. Producers entering the program will receive annual CRP rental payments, incentives and cost-share assistance to establish habitat-enhancing natural covers on eligible land. Visit the DNR’s private lands webpage for more information http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/privatelands/index.html
06/25/2008 @ 03:29 PM Contributed by: patrick Views:: 70
We will be shutting the site down for a couple hours tomorrow for some maintenance work. We are moving it to a new environment which will have multiple servers to act as a back up. We hope this will fix the minor hiccups we have been experiencing. The site will be down on 6/26/2008 for approximately 2 hours beginning at 5pm.
